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Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: none
Word of the Day: Lucy DELANEY (43D: Lucy ___, African American slave narrator) —
Lucy Delaney (née Lucy Ann Berry; c. 1828–1830 – August 31, 1910) was an African American seamstress, slave narrator, and community leader. She was born into slavery and was primarily held by the Major Taylor Berry and Judge Robert Wash families. As a teenager, she was the subject of a freedom lawsuit, because her mother lived in Illinois, a free state, longer than 90 days. According to Illinois state law, enslaved people that reside in Illinois for more than 90 days should be indentured and freed. The country's rule of partus sequitur ventrem asserts that if the mother was free at the child's birth, the child should be free. After Delaney's mother, Polly Berry (also known as Polly Wash), filed a lawsuit for herself, she filed a lawsuit on her daughter's behalf in 1842. Delaney was held in jail for 17 months while awaiting the trial.In 1891, Delaney published the narrative, From the Darkness Cometh the Light, or, Struggles for Freedom. This is the only known first-person account of a freedom suit and one of the few slave narratives published in the post-Emancipation period. The memoir recounts her mother's legal battles in St. Louis, Missouri, for her own and her daughter's freedom from slavery. For Delaney's case, Berry attracted the support of Edward Bates, a prominent Whig politician and judge, and the future United States Attorney General under President Abraham Lincoln. He argued Delaney's case in court and won her freedom in February 1844. Delaney's and her mother’s cases were two of 301 freedom suits filed in St. Louis from 1814 to 1860. The memoir provides insight into the activities of Delaney's life during and after the freedom suits. (wikipedia)
• • •
 |
| [Psycho bunny, qu'est-ce que c'est?] |
Unlike me, this puzzle seemed really into contemporary writers. SAEED, REEM, ROSAMUND? These are not names I know well (or, in the case of REEM & ROSAMUND, at all)—which is not a problem, though when two of them crossed each other (REEM/ROSAMUND), I will admit I got a little nervous. Speaking of name crossings, the DELANEY/LARTER cross was maybe even a little bit hairier, but I've at least heard of Ali LARTER, so that helped. Actually, as far as crossing DELANEY goes, BEONE was possibly more treacherous than LARTER. Something real awkward about both BEONE and its clue (58A: Have spiritual unity (with)).
Pull your pubic hair out in clumps from the root and send it in unmarked envelopes to technocrats.
— Longreads, 17 Sep. 2019
Nothing else in this puzzle rankled, but a few things seemed off, including SAKE BOTTLE (92A: Drink order at a sushi restaurant) (I had SAKE and ... that seemed like a complete answer; plus SAKE BOTTLE makes about as much sense as WINE BOTTLE; you're ordering the sake, not the bottle, so you'd order a bottle of sake—just as you'd order a bottle of wine, not a WINE BOTTLE); and STATE-AIDED, a truly clunky adjective. Is STATE-AIDED really more commonly used than STATE-SUPPORTED or STATE-FUNDED? "AIDED" crossing WADES was ... an adventure).
[90A: Instrument for which Beethoven and Mozart composed]
- 46A: Old-time theater item (MOVIE REEL) — one of clues trying to remind me of how old I am today—the other being, of course, the clue on VCRS (77D: Bygone devices whose tapes had to be rewound). Movies used to be projected from film and spooled on reels. Nowadays, most movies are projected using digital projectors, not film projectors. No more film, no more reels. According to the New Beverly Cinema ("Always On Film!"), reel-to-reel projection = "When a feature film is projected by running its individual reels on two or more projectors, changing from one reel to another in sequence. This is in contrast to “platter” projection, when a feature film is spliced together in its entirety and run through one projector as a continuous loop." I'm old enough to remember movies being shown in my elementary school classrooms using reel-to-reel projection. Also, I miss my VCR(S).
- 61A: ___ syndrome (allergic reaction to some bug bites) (SKEETER) — this sounded so made-up to me—no actual "syndrome" is going to use the slangy term "SKEETER," I thought—but nope, it looks real enough. It's a severe localized allergic reaction to a bug bite. Wikipedia appears to have anticipated my dubiousness about the name of the syndrome: "Although the term seems informal, it has appeared in scientific literature."
- 65A: Annual awards whose name is an acronym (ESPYS) — wavered back and forth here between ESPYS and EMMYS, apparently forgetting what "acronym" means, yeesh. My brain was like "they both sound like two letters said consecutively, so ..." So what, brain? You know the definition of "acronym," what are you even doing? I could never have guessed what ESPY stood for "Excellence in Sports Playing! Yippee!"? Nope, it's "Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly." Oh well, I was half right. I definitely like my version better.
- 1D: Talking ___ (early dating period, in modern lingo) (STAGE) — Cute, and definitely "modern" (i.e. not around when I was "dating"). I'm not gonna ask what the other STAGEs are (these days). If you want to divide your dating life up into segments using a word normally reserved for grief or disease, go right ahead, kids.
 |
| [34A: ___ Jones, author of "How We Fight for Our Lives"] |
- 6D: Typically red-colored toy figurines (TIN SOLDIERS) — hey, it's an answer that's actually before my time. I've heard of TIN SOLDIERS, but I don't think I've owned them or even seen them. These were the first toy soldiers to be mass-produced, starting in the 18th century. Tin seems to have been largely replaced by lead in the soldier figurine world. The word "red' doesn't appear at all on the wikipedia page for "TIN SOLDIERS." And none of the pictured soldiers are red either. I definitely had green plastic army men at some point in my boyhood, but that's as far as my knowledge of toy soldiers goes.
- 8A: Try to produce better offspring from (REMATE) — one of the few outright regrettable "words" in this grid, along with E-MEET (15D: Become acquainted over Zoom, e.g.). You should definitely E-MEET before you REMATE, if meeting in person is not an option. You don't want to REMATE blind, that's for sure. Not if you want everything to REFIT correctly (60D: Update the equipment in).
- 21D: Mythical creature with scales (MERMAN) — she was real! I am a MERMAN truther! Not sure about the scales, though. She did play Gopher's mom on Love Boat, though, so maybe when the last of those episodes wrapped, she just jumped into the sea to go be with her people.
- 33D: Olympic gymnast Nadia who was the first to receive a perfect 10 score (COMANECI) — I have heard her name pronounced a bunch of ways, so the spelling today, particularly the last letter, was a challenge.
- 50D: Like some soils high in organic matter (PEATY) — I would like to thank Scotch for helping me come up with this adjective. The PEATY Scotch in our house at the moment is Laphroaig.
- 62D: Musical instruments that become other musical instruments when an F is added to the front (LUTES) — don't normally like the clues that require me to add / subtract / multiply letters, but this one made me smile. Keeps everything in the musical family. I mean, they could've gone [Musical instruments that become butt muscles when a G is added to the front], but they didn't, and that is to their credit.
- 81D: Strategy against fickle weather (LAYERS) — this is a great clue. Sometimes clues aren't particularly tricky or fancy and yet still impress me, and this is one of them. Plural noun masked by a singular-seeming clue that is nonetheless perfectly apt. Nice.
OK, I'll stop there. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, including the "extra" hour you've been granted by the (blessed) return of Standard Time (which should be year-round time). See you tomorrow, or next week, or whenever.
P.S. Thanks to Cody Pajic for sending me pictures of his crossword-related Halloween costume. Cody went as "Common Crossword Answers."
Cody writes: "From left to right / top to bottom, the decorations are: ELM/ASH/TREE, EEL, EWE, OGRE, OREO, EAR, ALE/IPA, TEA, ALOE, APE, TEE, AXE, ANT, EYE/ISEE, EMU, and LEO (represented by a depiction of my friend's dog, Leo, whose picture is also attached.) I had plans for more words, but procrastinated. Still happy with the result! The grids are NYT crosswords from previous Halloweens." Thanks, Cody. Needless to say, if any of you ever pull some kind of crossword-costume stunt for future Halloweens (or any occasion), let me know!
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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A fine ultra-low word count Sunday-sized grid themeless. Too bad it wasn’t pared back a little and run on a Friday or Saturday where it belongs.
ReplyDeleteSKEETER and NRBQ
Totally agree. This is Fri/Sat level stuff. Packed into a Sunday grid makes it feel forced and tedious for the solver. Also possibly a bit self indulgent on the part of the constructor going for some low word count feat, I doubt most think is HOOEY anyway. No offense to the obviously gifted Rafa.
DeleteFar too much esoterica with names that will only come from word lists and GenAi assists. Crossing REEM Kassis with ROSAMUND Kupton? Sound like a couple of TECHNOCRATS from Natick? Or perhaps I’m the only SORELOSER who took 52 minutes to finish this Sunday slog?
Happy falling back , All!
REEM crossing ROSMUND? Impossible. I suppose there only a limited number of choices for that M. I chose L but in hind sight, REEL is mentioned elsewhere.
DeleteAnonymous 9:16 AM
Delete& noni
53 minutes would be very fast for me. I have no complaints doing this one. ( probably over an hour, on paper didn’t time). About the REEM ROSAMOND cross. Like you I had no clue about either name. But I did remember that REEL appeared earlier and something not mentioned, REEM is a more likely name. Also ROSALUND is much less likely than MUND. I go with odds For that reason I don’t think it was a natick, because the M is inferable.
I do agree that the puzzle wasn’t easy but not Saturday level.
Sounds like a slog for you both I think you got tired of it. That’s a fair criticism.
El acto está consumado.
ReplyDeleteReally nice puzzle except for ROSAMUND crossing REEM. And I had POTTERS WHEEL instead of POTTERY because I'm not an animal.
Good looking grid. Solid Sunday even without a theme and without much of a sense of humor. I did it during the baseball game last night and the game was much more exciting.
Don't y'all have buttes too? I didn't know they were southwest specific.
❤️ HOOEY. MINXES. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
People: 9
Places: 4
Products: 6
Partials: 6
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 26 of 117 (22%)
Funny Factor: 4 😕
Tee-Hee: REMATE.
Uniclues:
1 Doomscrolling.
2 Tweets sarcastically.
3 Pro-cannibalist feels sorry for the witch in Hansel and Gretel.
1 EPIC DRAMA TEST RIDES (~)
2 ENTER "THAT'S RICH" HOOEY
3 PITIES OVENS CULT HERO
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Nixon criticized. ERASER ASSAILED.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@Gary. I was perplexed by 69A BUTTE. I could reach BUTTE, Montana in under 8 hours from my place in Calgary. So not exactly southwestern.
DeleteAha! I couldn't figure out what I still had wrong. It was POTTERS not POTTERY! Thank you from a fellow Not-an-Animal.
DeleteBend, OR here. Considered PNW as far as I know. Definitely not SW. we have Pilot Butte in the middle of town. Plus many other buttes all around.
Delete@Les, I think they are going for the landform, and Gary J was riffing on “butts”, but what do I know? I will say that BUTTES may exist elsewhere in U.S., but the clue didn’t make me BAT(ty) an eyelash because I tend to associate buttes and mesas with the Southwest.
DeleteOh, and I DID see that Montana has more buttes than anywhere in U.S. Neverless…she persists…that is to say…I didn’t know that until I searched, and tend to think of buttes, mesas, (and hoodoos) as SW.
Delete@Beezer 4:53 PM
DeleteHa! I actually was NOT riffing on said posterior apparatus, but it seems like something I would definitely do. 😂
I anticipated badness; I don't usually even try the latter half of the week (Thu, Fri, Sat) -- I mean, the length of some of these answers! But it was easier than I expected, perhaps somewhere between a Tuesday and a Wednesday-level difficulty?
ReplyDeleteSome write-overs:
- 48A: "Prayer rugs" before PRAYERMATS.
- 5D: TWOSTATE, TWOSTAR (instead of TRISTATE, TRISTAR)... until I realized THREE (83D) would not work.
- 58D: "Nutty" before BATTY.
I agree SAKEBOTTLE was a bit clunky. Sure, the "face" is creepy. And just enough PPP to make this slightly annoying. But overall, this was an impressive construction and interesting diversion from the usual Sunday. Thank you, Rafael!
Rex — are you sure you really want 4:30 sunrises in the summer? If we were to stop changing our clocks, permanent DST would be my choice. But frankly I like it fine the way it is. Changing things up is good for us.
ReplyDelete
DeleteI am sure. 830 am sunrises in winter would be awful, and dangerous (for school children and commutes). And the way it is now is measurably unhealthy. Arizona and Hawaii have the right idea—permanent standard time
Well, I can’t speak to Arizona, but since Hawaii is very close to the equator they basically “save” no daylight. I do find the daylight v standard debate pretty amusing because it comes up every time we have to change!
DeleteI hate to whine (yeah, right) but permanent DST would mean the sun wouldn't even show until 9:30 or 10:30 or even later for everyone north of the 49th ... i.e. all of us Canadians. Not acceptable! Permanent standard time, please and thank you.
DeleteSaskatchewan seems to do okay without the annoyance of clock fiddling twice a year.
DeleteAmen to Arizona not changing. We have dear friends who have moved and they miss our staying the same year round.
DeleteWhat did the Zen master say when ordering a cheesesteak? Make me one with everything.
ReplyDeleteI heard it as the Dalai Lama ordering a pizza
DeleteIf ordering a true Philly cheesesteak, the Zen guy would more properly say: "Make me one WIT"
DeleteWhat did the Buddha say to the hot dog vendor?
DeleteAmen!
DeleteIncredibly straight-forward clueing with hardly any misdirection. Easiest Sunday puzzle in a long time.
ReplyDeleteNot a complaint. Just an observation.
I totally agree with Rex about standard time. But I have a different
ReplyDeleteSLANT regarding the puzzle. I loved it. It felt clean and smooth like a good shave.
Much more fun than the usual Sunday. Bravo, Rafa!
ReplyDeletePOTTER’s WHEEL made it hard to see TYPE O, and SA?ED Jones was no help. Like Rex sez, the unfamiliar author’s names added some crunch. Last letter in: the M in REEM/ROSAMUND, both names new to me.
I’ve accompanied fLUTE players on the FORTEPIANO, so those answers were particularly fun.
Slog
ReplyDeleteRUGS before MATS at end of 48A.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but does anyone ever refer to Penn State as PSU? I've only ever heard of it as Penn State. And that makes the difference between REEM/ROSAMUND being fair or not. If the U is more obvious than I think it is, then that blank in the across can really only be an M. But to me, REEl/ROSAliND/PSi (with the i standing for "institute") is just as plausible as the correct answer.
ReplyDeletePeople frequently refer to Penn State as PSU.
DeleteBut it's only three letters long, and it is clued with the abbreviation "sch." -- it has to be PSU. With all due respect, "Institute" is to me not remotely plausible.
DeleteThe clue doesn't specify that anyone has to refer to it that way in conversation. That PSU is indeed used as an abbreviation is confirmed by looking at school email addresses.
REEM x ROSAMUND is in the grid only because there's already a REEL at 46A. REEL/PSI/ROSALIND would've been much better fill if it didn't lead to a dupe.
DeleteHappy Valley!
DeleteI agree with tht
DeleteNittany Lions is also in the clue for a reason A very unusual area specific team name made the clue much easier
The song, “Tin Soldier”, by Small Faces immediately came to mind when I read the clue for 6D. Steve Marriott was such a great vocalist.
ReplyDeleteTIN SOLDIERs and Nixon's coming.......
DeleteOne tin soldier rides away . . .
DeleteHail Steve Marriott
I really want to know if Rafa’s original clue on BADDY was “Villain”.
ReplyDeleteAlso Rex thank you for introducing the readers to the Ethel Merman Disco Album which is truly one of the world’s purest delights.
@Rex I think 84A is being cheeky with the clue. TECHNOCRATS are people in government, by definition, and also by definition they must have some kind of "skills." Not necessarily governing skills, but technical skills.
ReplyDeleteSo they are skilled people, who are in government.
That's the joke. Did I kill the joke by explaining it?
It could be a case of slight misdirection, yes. I think the way the word is generally used now, a TECHNOCRAT is a wonky sort who takes an assertedly rational and scientific approach to crafting public policy, based on polls, statistics, etc. These days, much more associated with Democrats. But back when the term was invented, during the Great Depression, the idea was that society might be better off with technical experts at the helm -- scientists, economists, etc. -- and not professional politicians and business leaders. That's my understanding anyway, based on a glance at Merriam-Webster.
DeleteLeave the jokes to the professionals. BTW, I’m not sure about TECHNOCRATS, the current administration governs more like The Aristocrats, as in this retelling of the classic joke. https://youtu.be/x2o2BGqMFik?si=06Wl-g5MQl66LEEb
DeleteWe still have (and use) a VCR, so not completely bygone.
ReplyDeleteMultiple Naticks today, surprisingly all guessed correctly. SAYED/TYPEO, REEM/ROSAMUND, REEM/FORTEPIANO, LARTER/DELANEY. Makes for a mid-'90s crossword experience, when such crosses were common.
Ultimately unsatisfying to work through the whole puzzle only to have to spin a coin for several squares.
@Rex, I think the “theme” is the grid art…”open-faced”, and to me, it seems pretty accurate. Ya know…the opposite of RBF!
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed Rafa’s puzzle and, for the most part, I seem to be on his wavelength. I spent MOST of my time in the SE corner being befuddled because I had Big tEN instead of BEN and stupidly trying to make my ancient philosopher European. Hey, I watched college football yesterday and the top two teams at this point are in the Big Ten!
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of Themeless SunPuzs, however, this one was impressive with the low word count and pretty darn good fill. Low word count equates to more Longs, as @Lewis is wont to notice.
Some neat words/things in the grid today. Extra tough to get so many Long crossing words to play nicely. Liked Rex's analysis of the grid being a "demented rabbit." It could be the face of a panda, a dog, or even a carved pumpkin sitting on your porch waiting to be discarded.
FWE (Finished With Errors), had FORToPIANO/RoEM, and IBiAc(?) for IBEAM, as COMANiCI and cORES seemed correct. What can ya do?
I'm sure there are decent Themed SunPuzs that have been rejected. But like I said, the good fill in this one gives it a pass. (As if the NYT cares what I think! 😁)
Have a great Sunday!
Six F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Needed two cheats, for the first names SAAED and SEEM, neither of which could be inferred from the surrounding letters or from personal contacts. Cluing SEEM as a first name was unnecessary, given other options. Aside from these two clunkers, I found the puzzle easy by Sunday standards.
ReplyDeleteI see REEM, not SEEM (since you say SEEM twice, I assume you didn't mistype in the comment). You meant 87 Down?
DeleteI don’t believe I ever had a TIN SOLDER, but I did have a kit with molds where I could melt the lead and make my own (which I would then paint). Back when we did things besides playing video games as kids.
ReplyDeleteI was well south of the equator when I realized that I had no clue what the theme was - couldn’t find a reveal so just plowed onward as a themeless.
Wow Rafa - where did you come up with these proper names? ROSAMUND /REEM, LAOTSE, CAMUS, SAEED ? They don’t even sound like real names. Omg, that was brutal. You didn’t even throw me a bone with Ethyl MERMAN - which is one I actually would have known.
I also would have preferred an abbreviation in the clue for VCRS. Is that crossword convention passé? It seems like it’s been on life support for some time now at least.
@Southside, lol, in MY day kids had Creepy Crawlers kits where you put “plastic-goop” in molds, put them in the oven to breathe the toxic fumes of the PVC particles, but I’m sure you didn’t mean that you wouldn’t have played video games if they had been available, right?
DeleteI vaguely remember the Creepy Crawlers. I think you could get a kit that would heat up the mold as well. I probably would have played video games if they were available then. I gave up trying them with my grandkids because I don’t want them to get too frustrated with me asking so many questions. I recently tried the college football game that’s become pretty popular. I thought my head was going to explode.
DeleteNow come on, I think you're getting a little CUTESY with this "durned furrin words" routine! I'm trying to say it with a smile, but Southside: you've been doing crosswords for too long to believably claim that LAO TSE is truly unfamiliar. Same with CAMUS, right? Albert CAMUS. Super-famous author and Nobel laureate who's been in the crossword a jillion times. "Where do you come up with these".
DeleteI will grant you that the author first names ROSAMUND, REEM, SAEED are, as clued, somewhat more niche. But I would avoid saying they don't even sound like real names, because tonally, to me, that comes dangerously close to having a taint, verging on "Speak American!" I'm certain you don't mean it like that. But it would be somewhat insulting or impertinent to tell someone that their name, a very personal possession, doesn't sound like a real name. There are better ways of getting the message across that you are unfamiliar with a name (or have trouble spelling it, etc.).
I wouldn't have noticed the thing about cluing VCRS if you hadn't mentioned it, since nobody actually says "video cassette recorder" any more. I don't think an abbreviation warning is necessarily mandated here. (But I might be a little inconsistent here, since I've been known to stickle with the best of them.)
Hi @tht. You make a good point. I probably did overdue the hyperbole for sake of emphasis. I had no intention of trying to insult the individuals involved - pointing out that their names are not generally considered “mainstream” would likely be sufficient. Unfortunately, mainstream for me is usually Taylor Swift famous. I doubt I could name 5 out of the last 20 Oscar winners for best actor or actress (did Meryl Streep win a couple in there?). I do agree that historically significant figures are (and should be) fair game. Once we get to B-list actors from TV shows that I have never heard of, well I’m pretty much toast there.
Delete@SouthsideJohnny & tht
DeleteWonderful dialogue here. For what it's worth, I don't count VCR as a partial, but treat it as a real "word" since nobody uses its real name. Same with DNA, LSD, and ATM.
@Southside Thanks for the response; gentlemanly as always. I understand a need to vent about a crossword now and then, if it's relentless with a particular form of crossword kryptonite. I am fairly reliably ignorant when it comes to rap, for example, and an overload of rap-related clues would be sheer agony for me. (Remember Charli XCX? I knew her, but sometimes the character strings can look like they belong to some offspring of Elon.)
DeleteHard agree on the Sunday themeless. I look forward to the theme and always feel a little deflated answering a themeless even if it's good - which this one was. Ended with a few mistakes, the first in the NW section where I had ROSAliND, but then noticed that REEL was already somewhere else, and PSi never felt quite right, so quick fix there.
ReplyDeleteI was sure that nuTTY was the correct answer for eccentric, but I'm getting to the point where if I see a word like nEONE that I've never seen before I don't assume it's because I've never heard of it. Sure enough BE ONE made much more sense, and I had heard of Ali LARTER so happy music was mine. Fine 30:45 way to spend a Sunday morning.
A REEm ROSAmUND crossing should never happen. Natick city for me.
ReplyDeleteROSAMUND crossing REEM is the definition of Natick. I read before I started that this puzzle had the least amount of clues of any Sunday ever. As such, I was prepared for a much more difficult puzzle. But it really was a smooth ride. I prefer themes to my Sunday puzzles, but I did enjoy this one
ReplyDeleteI appreciated some of the good cluing in this puzzle—"Girder whose name assumes a serif font" (IBEAM), "Like some donations anyone can accept (TYPEO), "Child who refuses to put things away (FUSSY EATER)—but overall I felt disappointed. I like a theme, I like the usual Sunday gimmick. I saw the Jack-o-lantern face and thought it might go Halloween-y, but no. Darn!
ReplyDeleteBoring
ReplyDeleteYay, I've finished with a new Sunday record time! But why isn't the happy song playing? Because of Rosamund and Reem, that's why. Goodbye record time. Goodbye current streak. Bummer.
ReplyDeleteHow many stages are there between the Talking STAGE and the one where you REMATE? As someone remarked, the world is a STAGE. Of course you need to EMEET before you can talk.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know where I can get some chili con carne in SILICONVALLEY? Some of the Mexican restaurants that used to FEEDLOTS of people have shut down with ICECLIMBING all over the place.
Is sawr the present tense of SAWRED?
People often say my blood classification is a mistake, but it's just a TYPEO.
If @Lewis were here, he would not let LEPER repel him in his search for semordnilaps.
Feynman always went by Richard. Nobody ever pointed to him and said THATSRICH.
Good job on the puzzle, but I strongly prefer a theme on Sundays. Thanks, Rafael Musa.
I noticed FALSE IMPRESSION across the smiling face and wondered it it was trying to tell us something.
ReplyDeleteTreats: SCARE TACTIC, FUSSY EATER. Help from previous puzzles: MR ROBOT. No idea: ROSAMUND, REEM, SAEED.
@Rex, thank you for the information on Lucy DELANY and the freedom suits.
It looked a little intimidating at first glance, but it turned out to be a smooth solve that took me slightly less than an average Sunday time. Not whooshy, mind you, but no real snags and I just chugged along steadily until the DEED (not DEal, what I put first) was done. The grid has a nice flow-y look to it, in spite of imagined fangs and blood (which I myself don't really see).
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Rex about STATE-AIDED, and also E-MEET (sigh) and REMATE and SAKE BOTTLE. I'm also not a great fan of these ECO constructions like ECORESORT, which sounds almost made up.
SPurtS before SPATES.
I'm much more familiar with the term PIANOFORTE (a quiet-loud?) than FORTEPIANO (a loud-quiet?). They're the exact same thing! But it caused me to second-guess, wondering for a moment whether there was something else I should be putting before the PIANO.
My son was in the last cohort of LSAT-takers who had to grapple with the logic portion. I think they might have gotten rid of the logic portion in the GRE as well, which was there when I took it (in the general SAT-like part, not the subject-specific part). IMHO, those logic tests are pretty artificial. Yes, you could say that a future lawyer should have good reasoning skills. But in practice, you have to train on these convoluted logic puzzles like a racehorse if you want to do well, and get in the habit of diagramming the artificial scenarios out on paper instead of solving them in your head. In the real world, you'll never have to do anything like that. So, good riddance I say.
Rex, have you tried Lagavulin? Now that SURE IS a PEATY Scotch. I quite like it, but the smokiness would turn off most people I think (and I think a lot of non-drinkers find the smell off-puttingly strong).
Enjoy the "extra" hour, folks (if you can). I've gotten to the age where either time change doesn't sit well with me, as "fall back" used to.
Cody, I love the Halloween costume. Maybe next year, you can go as the Crossword Villain: guy from Natick, Massachusetts visiting Mauna Loa (or maybe Mauna Kea no one knows) while eating a sandwich. Oh, and he's a member of the NRA.
ReplyDeleteMy random solve method made this more difficult than perhaps it needed to be. I ended up with two errors, with SAhED (crossing TYPhO, sure, why not?) and HOkEY before HOOEY, though LAO TSE is commonly enough found in grids that that one is one me.
ReplyDeletePieces of art? for MOSAICS is quite nice. Evergreen pointer (pointer?) for PINE NEEDLE, I think not. I stared a bit at my nEONE for 58A as my 58D was nuTTY. The EONE crosses all worked but I wasn't finding any spiritual unity there. BATTY as "eccentric" did finally occur to me.
The SW was my last area to fill. I make a leap of faith that a name ending in UND could only be ROSAMUND. I thought the instrument was always a PIANOFORTE. Is it interchangeable? Googles AI says "Fortepiano and pianoforte are the same instrument, with "pianoforte" being the full name and "fortepiano" a common shortened version used interchangeably until the modern era. Today, "fortepiano" specifically refers to the earlier version of the instrument (built before about 1830) which has a lighter, more delicate sound due to factors like lower string tension and leather-covered hammers."
I must laugh at the first sentence; how on earth is fortepiano a "shortened" version of PIANOFORTE?
Rafa, thanks for an interesting Sunday grid/face!
Thanks for looking that up because I also thought it was pianoforte!
DeleteI think this was written incorrectly. Piano is the shortened version of pianoforte. As you mentioned, the fortepiano is the earlier version. It is interesting to hear the music of those composers on the instrument for which they were conceived.In Schubert, it is very difficult to keep the sound level and balance under control on the modern instrument, whereas the softer strings and more muted tone make those notey passages stay in the background more easily.
DeleteOne of the first written descriptions of the newly invented piano, in the early 1700s, called it the “gravicembalo col piano e forte,” or “large harpsichord with soft and loud.” Now there’s a name in need of shortening. After a century of back and forth, people settled on pianoforte, which of course was then further shortened to piano.
DeleteIt must be strange to native Italian speakers to call that instrument the “soft.”
Boring. Sunday should have a theme.
ReplyDeleteI would never have finished this puzzle were I not on a streak. Themeless Sundays suck, without exception. This was perhaps easier, but no better, than any other Sunday themeless.
ReplyDeleteNotice to Will Shortz:
ReplyDeleteSundays are supposed to have a theme. Don’t run themeless puzzles on Sundays okay? Thanks!
While I understand that both ROSAMUND and REEM are obscure to many (including me), I don’t understand the complaints: could ROSA_UND be completed by anything but an M? (Isn’t that the name of a Shakespearean heroine?). Maybe an L, but REEL is already used.
ReplyDelete21d merman - male mermaid, half human half fish (scales)
ReplyDeleteCould not agree more on the stupid obscure proper noun crosses. Who is allowing these out? Otherwise had some fun combos but did feel odd for a Sunday.
ReplyDeleteEasy. I meandered through this without a lot or resistance. That said, there were a couple of Naticks that @Rex mentioned that I guessed right on - REEM/ROSAMUND (L?) and LARTER/DELANEY (A?).
ReplyDeleteCostly erasures - HOkum before HOOEY and loAmY before PEATY.
Nice breezy change of pace, liked it.
Pitch black at 4:30 in NH stinks! Make DST permanent…please
ReplyDeleteETHEL MERMAN & DISCO??? Now that's scary.
ReplyDeleteI got so caught up in Rafa's themeless Sunday that I forgot to watch the Marathon while solving.
WOES - REEM, ROSAMUND, SAEED, LARTER? The only SKEETER I barely remember was a song that was on the radio when I was a kid by Skeeter Davis - "The End of the World"
(Don't they know it's ...) - this was - BB "Before Boys". I was actually relieved to see a themeless Sunday but wound up looking for my typo anyway.
Thank you Rafa :)
I can’t help but notice clue answers like 9 across, 24 across, 31 across and 6 down seem to fit a pattern that would indicate a political opinion is being expressed. There’s more that stretches the concept, but I still think there’s something there.
ReplyDeleteKen About scare tactics.
DeleteI had the same reaction and I didn’t even make the connection with Tin Soldiers I would throw in 31 across. It was scare tactics which made me see them all as related. A sneaky theme?
Too many obscure (to me) names crossing obscure names, Natick city...
ReplyDeleteMaybe the least fun puzzle I’ve done in a good while. Such a boring themeless full of proper names, awkward answers (e.g., STATE AIDED) and “green paint” answers (e.g, SAKE BOTTLE). Why clues NOS as a Portuguese word? This was a real snoozefest.
ReplyDeleteAh you!
DeleteNo theme? That’s like eating Cracker Jacks and not getting a prize. Way too many proper names. The SAEED-TYPEO crossing was especially unfair. Was the image on the grid supposed to represent a Jack-O-Lantern? If so, who cares since there was nothing else that was related to the silly image. This one’s a real BADDY. Does the editor even care any more?
ReplyDeleteThe theme was “open-faced” and I believe that was what the grid art showed. I don’t care whether Sunday has a theme, but I know others do.
DeleteTo Teedmn: Google AI is a clanker.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree. I’ve gotten totally wrong info on it, although it seemed to be ok for Teedman today.
DeleteHa ha, I once entered a technical question into Google and back came a very cheery reply from Google AI, "why yes..." and proceeded to say why. Only trouble was, I recognized the words they were quoting, and they were my own! Now, I jolly well knew that I didn't have the answer to my current-day question five or ten years beforehand. (Of course all this is to be expected with "AI".)
DeleteIn the words of Public Enemy: Don't Believe the Hype!
Too CUTESY.
ReplyDeleteToy soldiers before tin soldiers, lay day before layers. Went with NFL lineman & had to cheat on Larter & Delaney to sort it out. Lucky guess on the M for the reem/rosamund cross.
ReplyDeleteBit slow but hey, it's Sunday
REMATE? As in: “The last time I MATEd I produced inferior spawn. That is why I decided to REMATE.” Okay, sure….
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 12:27 pm
DeleteRemate is an awkward word but the clue is not referring to people but the breeding of domesticated animals.
I was thrown by the y instead of s in POTTERY WHEELS. Tspyo crossing SAyED. What a mess! I should have seen TYPEO - it's not like it's never been in the puzzle. This is what happens when you are So Sure. Being stubborn won’t ever make Tspyo mean anything. I guess I just assume it must be some newly coined term…
ReplyDeleteI had Rebeccah as a guess instead of ROSAMUND, but corrected that when I saw Feynman and knew RICHARD - thank you BBT.
I had balmy instead of BATTY, and no idea of LARTER until I saw LUTES. LUTES was nice. As was FUSSYEATER, and MIFF.
Thanks RAFA, but can we have a theme in your next Sunday puzzle?
For 6D, it's "typically *red-coated* toy figurines", not "red-colored". British soldiers during the Revolutionary War = Red Coats.
ReplyDeletepopplers
DeleteI think the clue is NOT referring to Redcoats but to the Nutcracker Suite which has the boy playing with his RED tin soldier gift , which in the dream sequences turn into many , marching and fighting.
The clue is fine especially in crosswords where hints are relied.on.
I hate Unknown Names with a passion, so ROSAMUND crossing REEM totally disgusted me. I ran the alphabet without success, because it turned out I also had an error with TYPHO crossing SAHED. Then there's also DELANEY crossing LARTER, but at least that E was guessable. Awful.
ReplyDeleteBecause I finished with 2 errors and in a bad mood I forgot to wonder what the theme was. Just as well.
By the way, I now officially hate baseball, and also the Dodgers, who I liked until 2 weeks ago.
For some reason, ROSAMUND struck me as the only plausible answer if we take ROSA( )UND [and REE( )] as given, working off the other crosses. The letter M wins over all other letters by a country mile.
DeleteBut perhaps not for very well-founded reasons. I was not able to come up independently with anyone named ROSAMUND (Rosalind, yes, but not this). I came up with a fanciful meaning of the name if it's a name for a German girl ("pink mouth", maybe like little pink mouth), but this meaning is not attested from what I found out later. So in the end, I put in the M only because it gives the most name-like answer, for whatever that's worth, and without thinking too hard about it. But I would have been similarly annoyed had it been wrong!
Steely Dan and The Ethel Merman Disco Album in the same day?! You're spoiling us, Rex.
ReplyDeleteI know that MERMAN is what you call the masculine counterpart to a mermaid, but my primary association for that name has and will always be the character action-figure from the He-Man Universe.
ReplyDeleteLike most little boys, at age 9 or 10, I began to drift away from my once unstoppable drive to engage in open-ended pretend play (horrible verbiage but "imaginative toy play" was a regrettable casualty of our otherwise salutary retreat from society-sanctioned sexual re/o-pression). This happened to coincide with the rise of He-Man, GI Joe and Gobots/Transformers. As such, those toys failed to make the cut on my Chirstmas/Birthday wish lists. But I had a six-year-old brother. Loophole! Then blah blah, yada yada... I didn't flinch on MERMAN this morning.
This sort of arrangement is quite beneficial for young boys as it allows them a way so slide more gracefully in lowest tier young adulthood.
Unfortunately I had a very hard time getting the drift of sentence one in paragraph two (something about salutarily retreating from sexual repression?), but I came away understanding that there was some action figure named MERMAN that I guess your little brother got for Christmas?
DeleteI think maybe I engaged in such pretend play rather longer than most kids; I have clear memories of doing this in the sixth grade. My own fantasies revolved around explorations of outer space, for the most part. I wasn't much of a GI Joe kid, but we had that too.
REEM & ROSAMUND is perhaps the best (as in most effective) Natick I’ve seen since I’ve known what that term means. Not only are they both obscure, they are both from the same field and clued the same way “______ (last name), author of …..Interestingly the M really pushed its way in there. I commented earlier about Schubert, perhaps his ROSAMUNDE quartet or overture came to the rescue. As an experiment, I typed in “famous Rosamund…”, then typed, l,u,p,t in order: had to get all the way to “t” for Lupton to be the first suggestion. I’m sure she’s wonderful, just defending my all time great Natick averring.
ReplyDeleteOther than than, I thought it was pretty straightforward and enjoyable to work my way down the bunny slope.
Anonymous 1:31 AM
DeleteBut the M is inferable as many showed earlier. (Rex who invented the word natick said the letter had to be uninferable to be a natick) Only other option is L But Reel would be a dupe and ROSALUND is a much less likely name than Rosamund. So a lot of people here agree it isn’t a natick.
I guess I have to work on my names … NOT!
ReplyDeleteFor once I was zooming through, imagining you types complaining it was too easy - till I stalled in the SE. I'd even half-remembered REEM as an Arab name. All came to nought; ONELEG is weird and I've been doing yoga for 20 years. OtherLEG maybe. I had absolutely no idea about Kassis. And - this really hurts - I couldn't read my own write-over so couldn't imagine beginning SORELOSERS with a B.
ReplyDeleteC’mon Rex it’s a lot closer to Halloween than Easter, so that’s gotta be a pumpkin! I did feel the absence of a theme though—something to go with the pumpkin…
ReplyDeletelike many, i naticked at ROSA_UND/REE_ cross, choosing the letter L. for those who have said that couldn't be possible because REEL appeared at 46A, that isn't true. yes, if REEL had appeared alone, it wouldn't appear as an answer a second time. but we've seen parts of answers duped in grids many a time. and while it seems to be frowned upon, there is obviously no current rule against it.
ReplyDeletewhile the puzzle contained other names that were unknown to me, or that i was a little uncertain about, they were crossed fairly, imho.
why is it called "open faced" if there's no theme? just curious. the grid art to me - which i usually never see anything in - looks like a bunny with big feet. i did read the writeup and ctrl+F'd for "theme" discussion through the comments but i feel like i missed something.
hope everyone has a nice rest of their sunday :)
-stephanie.
Re: bottle answer: Sake is usually served heated in smallish ceramic < bottles>. (Unable to post image here. ) And poured from these bottles into small cups
ReplyDeletePOTTERSWHEEL before POTTERYWHEEL and naticks galore, bleh
ReplyDeleteI prefer a Sunday with some sort of theme or at least some humor and especially clever misdirects. I am usually more on Rafa’s wavelength, but today had a bunch of wrong guesses: Toy for TIN SOLDIERS, PRAYER rugs for MATS, cheesy for CUTESY and Hocus for HOOEY. All easily corrected, but really unusual for me in a Rafa offeri bc.
ReplyDeleteSome of the names were new to me. Again though, crosses were fair and the short Sunday solve was enjoyable.
Hand way ip for leave my clock alone and in standard time, puhLEESE!!
awesome crossword costumes!
ReplyDeleteConcur with Rex's take, but s8nce the bar for Sunday NYT xwords is now so low, I give it high marks for workability. Agree with all the complaints about the naticks, but I got all three right, so for me tbey were quasi-naticks.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, I don’t think the REEM Rosamund cross was a natick. For me it’s a question of odds and to respond to Stephanie why dupe reel ( I agree there is no rule against dupes but they usually serve a purpose) with a a very rare name ROSALUND. Rosamund is more common and so a more likely answer That settled it for me and a lot of other people.
ReplyDeleteThe grid art did nothing for me but I enjoyed the puzzle. I thought there a lot of tricky clues I liked TYPE O for example. I found humor in it.
Scare tactics seems so appropriate these days as noted by another commenter
I agree also with a commenter (tht?) who said Rex missed the meaning of technocrat. It doesn’t refer to wealthy people. just government employees who tried to apply various their various fields of extortion in their jobs.
How many more obscure names can they throw in here? It is so pathetic when the only way a constructor an add difficulty is by throwing in a bunch of randoms nobody ever heard of.
ReplyDelete